League: Perth push back to the future

The Warriors' game against Cronulla Sharks in Perth tomorrow is the NRL's first move back to the western city and the long-term intention is to base a team there again.

The Western Reds were folded after one year in Super League in 1997 with a seven-win, 11-loss record and a crowd average of less than 10,000.

The league denies it is setting up in opposition to the new Perth Force Super 14 team. The NRL wants to again be a national competition, said chief executive David Gallop.

"There are now around 2 million people in the greater Perth area. We want to remind them of what a great game league is," Gallop said, confirming the NRL had assisted with arrangements including funding the broadcasting costs but that the final details and contract came down to the Sharks whose home game it is and the West Australian Rugby League.

"This is more a bet on the future, the aim one day is to be truly national - and geographical presence is important to our competition. But maintaining dominance in our major heartland is also important," Gallop said. A franchise in Perth might be five to 10 years away.

The Warriors-Sharks game must be a commercial success to drive that intention and from that perspective the Auckland club is a perfect opponent for any Australian-based team, certain to add New Zealanders to the crowd.

The match is on the weekend of the Perth V8 race, with hopes for extra numbers as a result of that too. The NRL is hoping for 15,000 at the Members Equity Stadium, the generally-agreed break-even figure.

The World Cup will be held in Australia in 2008 and the NRL will also use the crowd number to gauge the potential of holding cup games there. Gallop said the WA league had been through some dark days in the six years since the demise of the Reds but the organisation was now in place to move ahead.

It was a misconception that the Perth club had failed, Gallop said. "It was a pretty unusual time in the game. There were other clubs that were struggling too that could as easily have been closed. I don't think there's a lot of mileage in going over the bones of the Reds."

So Perth might be first cab off the rank in five years, with Adelaide next after their club was folded at the end of the 1998 season as part of the agreement to reunite the game.

Where does that leave Wellington?

Well behind the Gold Coast, which was recently backed by the Queensland State Government which has agreed to spend up to A$125 million ($132 million) for a new 25,000 seat stadium or redevelopment of Carrara. Gallop said that had obviously given the Gold Coast bid a significant boost.

Wellington must also be behind the Central Coast, whose backer John Singleton has offered to waive the NRL's standard A$2.5m share paid to all clubs as part of a split of television money.

Gallop said no club could buy its way in. "The board does not support the idea. If clubs are going to come in they will come in on the same terms as everyone else."

The NRL's partnership committee will review the bids from the Gold and Central Coasts and the Wellington Orcas next month. It was unlikely the league would expand by more than one team in season 2007, Gallop said.

"There are a number of competing demands on revenue. I'd like to see the gap between the television levy and the salary cap [A$3.25m] closed first. And you can never have enough money for junior development."

The NZRL is continuing to back the Wellington bid, with its wider aim the extension of opportunity for New Zealand players and expanding the numbers competing for representative jerseys.

There is an acceptance that the smart money is on Gold Coast getting the nod this time but an eye to the future long-term. "We still believe Wellington is the only option that grows the game," said manager Peter Cordtz.

To that end it has established an elite player academy that includes under-16s, under-18s and the Bartercard Cup team. Already several players have moved on from that to NRL clubs, including halves John Te Reo who is at the Broncos and Marvin Karawana, Bulldogs.

The relocation of a Sydney club was a possibility, so was a Wellington partnership with an Aussie NRL club, Cordtz said.

The game's move to expansion continues next Tuesday when a host of Parramatta players, coaches and administrators descend on Hamilton to promote the Eels-Warriors game at Waikato Stadium in mid-June.

Former Warrior PJ Marsh and cancer recovery patient Michael Vella, coach Brian Smith and chief executive Denis Fitzgerald will meet and greet, conduct player clinics and speak to Waikato University students studying sports topics.

The NRL is pushing for wider exposure in country towns in Australia too. Next year in pre-season all clubs will be required to play two trial games away from home.